A terribly serious adventure : philosophy and war at Oxford, 1900-1960 / Nikhil Krishnan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krishnan, Nikhil, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

University of Oxford--History.

University of Oxford.

Philosophy, English--20th century.

Philosophy, English.

Philosophy, Modern--20th century.

Philosophy, Modern.

Analysis (Philosophy).

Philosophers--England--Oxford--Biography.

Philosophers.

England--Intellectual life--20th century.

England.

Intellectual life.

England--Oxford.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 368 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Other Title:

Philosophy at Oxford 1900-60

Place of Publication:

New York : Random House, 2023.

Summary:

"What are the limits of language? How can philosophy be brought closer to everyday life? What is a good human being? These were among the questions that philosophers wrestled with in mid-twentieth-century Britain, a period shadowed by war and the rise of fascism. In response to these events, thinkers such as Philippa Foot (originator of the famous trolley problem), Isaiah Berlin, Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Anscombe, Gilbert Ryle, and J. L. Austin aspired to a new level of watchfulness and self-awareness about language as a way of keeping philosophy true to everyday experience. A Terribly Serious Adventure traces the friendships and the rivalries, the shared preoccupations and the passionate disagreements of some of Oxford's most innovative thinkers. Far from being stuck in their ivory towers, the Oxford philosophers lived. They were codebreakers, diplomats, and soldiers in both World Wars, and they often drew on their real-world experience in creating their greatest works, masterpieces of British modernism original in both thought and style"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Giddiness

Fog

Nonsense

Argy-bargy

Blood

Saturdays

Corruption

Swimming

Thaw

Donkeys

Ghosts.

Notes:

Simultaneously published in the United States as: A terribly serious adventure : philosophy and war at Oxford, 1900-1960. New York : Random House, [2023].

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Krishnan, Nikhil. Terribly serious adventure

ISBN:

9780525510604

0525510605

OCLC:

1374903565

Publisher Number:

99994120716